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Description

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Dukes newly redesigned web site which launched in March 2006 is the result of considerable research design and development We hope it will be an effective resource for the Duke community and the universitys many external audiences

The redesigned site seeks to achieve multiple goals First it aims in its design and content to present a focused portrayal of Dukes excellence diversity and dynamism It also seeks to streamline and simplify navigation throughout Dukes toplevel sites For example the new homepage features an updated Search function and simplified subpages that make it easier to find people offices and sites

An important component of the new web strategy is to improve internal communications within the Duke community Duke Today is the focus of this effort presenting news features events and quotnews you can usequot about whats going on at Duke Users can customize parts of Duke Today choosing their own links and news feeds on subjects of interest Since the new homepage is intended mainly for external audiences we encourage members of the Duke community to use Duke Today as their main information resource visiting it daily and perhaps designating it as their browser home page

Dukes Office of News and Communications developed the new sites in cooperation with many others across the university The sites were designed and built by White Whale Web Services in collaboration with Duke News and many others in the Duke community Content for Dukeedu is managed using Cascade Server which was customized for our use by Hannon Hill Corp To learn more about the development and design process please visit our redesign blog For technical information about the sites see our technical specs

The Duke Homepage Team
Duke University Office of News and Communications
March 2006

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History

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Duke University in Durham North Carolina traces its origins to 1838 when Methodist and Quaker Families in rural Randolph County employed Brantley York as a permanent teacher for their subscription school Under his leadership the infrequently used Browns Schoolhouse became Union Institute However as Quaker support turned toward its own school in Guilford County Braxton Craven Yorks successor as principal in 1842 turned to the state for assistance Craven sought and won from the legislature a rechartering of the academy as Normal College in 1851 and the privilege of granting degrees in 1853 Because the states system of public school was emerging ever so slowly Craven a licensed and later ordained preacher next turned to the Methodist Episcopal Church South to keep the school operating The trustees agreed to provide free education for Methodist preachers in return for financial support by the church and in 1859 the transformation was formalized with a name change to Trinity College Though never devoid of financial difficulties Trinitys enrollment increased even attracting students from outofstate and the college managed to survive the vicissitudes of Civil War and Reconstruction

Contrary to the experience of many nineteenth century private institutions when the leader Craven died in 1882 Trinity survived through its Methodist connection and the interim leadership of President Marquis L Wood and a Committee of Management made up of businessmen John W Alspaugh and James A Gray of Winston and Julian S Carr of Durham A most significant turning point occurred in 1887 when the youthful Northernborn Yaletrained John F Crowell became Trinitys president Committed to the German university model which emphasized research over recitation Crowell directed a major revision in the curriculum established the first campuswide research library and most important persuaded the trustees that the colleges future development lay in an urban setting where it would be far easier to attract student faculty and financial support

In 1892 after a spirited competition among piedmont cities Trinity opened in Durham largely because of the generosity of Washington Duke and Julian S Carr influential and respected Methodists grown prosperous in the tobacco industry John C Kilgo a dynamic administrator and spellbinding Methodist preacher later to be elected Bishop became president in 1894 and he greatly increased the interest of the Duke family in Trinity Washington Duke offered three gifts of 100000 each for endowment one of which was contingent upon the college admitting women quoton equal footing with menquot The college quickly accepted having had women graduates in Randolph County in 1878 and women as day students in Durham Benjamin N Duke Washington Dukes son Durham resident and longtime trustee became the principal liaison between the college and the family

Thanks to support from the Dukes and to an able relatively young ambitious and largely native faculty recruited from the new graduate schools at Johns Hopkins Columbia and other Northern universities Trinity College had developed by World War I into one of the leading liberal arts colleges in the South In 1903 the name of John S Bassett Professor of History and Trinity became forever associated with the history of academic freedom The colleges trustees turned back widespread appeals for Bassetts dismissal when editorials he wrote for a scholarly journal questioned the prevailing views on race relations This pioneering victory for academic freedom in the United States strengthened the colleges reputation for independent thought and scholarship Additional recognition came with Trinity becoming a founding member of the Association of Colleges and Preparatory Schools of the Southern States with membership with only one other southern institution in the Association of American Law Schools with the selection of the schools first Rhodes Scholar and with the establishment of a Phi Beta Kappa chapter

Plans for a university organized around Trinity College dated from Crowells presidency but it fell to William P Few president from 1910 to 1940 to bring the plans to fruition With Ben Dukes blessing Few began to share his dreams with James B Duke Bens younger brother and by far the richest member of the family In December 1924 James B Duke formalized the familys historic pattern of philanthropy with the establishment of The Duke Endowment a forty million dollar trust fund the annual income of which was to be distributed in the Carolinas among hospitals orphanages the Methodist Church three colleges and a university built around Trinity College To accomplish this last task in Durham nineteen million dollars was made available for the rebuilding of the old and for the creation of a new campus Recognizing the unprecedented opportunity to forge a new identity President Few urged that the school be called Duke University since the name Trinity College was not unique James B Duke agreed on condition that it be a memorial to his father and family

Few therefore oversaw the metamorphosis of a small college into a complex university as the School of Religion and Graduate School opened in 1926 the Medical School and hospital in 1930 the School of Nursing in 1931 and the School of Forestry in 1938 In 1930 the original Durham site became the coordinate Womans College which was merged back into Trinity as the liberal arts college for both men and women in 1972 The new West or Gothic campus about a mile distant became home to Trinity College for men along with the hospital and the graduate and professional schools The Law School founded in 1904 was reorganized in 1930 and engineering which had been taught since 1903 became a separate school in 1939 This was a greater transformation in a shorter period of time than had ever occurred in the history of higher education in the South In 1938 Duke University became the thirtyfourth member of the prestigious Association of American Universities The last of James B Dukes stated desires for the university was fulfilled when the School of Business Administration now the Fuqua School of Business opened in 1969

As noted by the trustees in 1924 the institution had had three names and two locations but quotit changes again to meet changing conditionsquot Today under the leadership of Richard H Brodhead ninth president of the university and fourteenth of the institution Duke University enrolls approximately 6300 undergraduate and 4500 graduate students representing almost every state and about 75 foreign countries The curriculum has expanded to include studies in biomedical engineering public policy microelectronics and black church affairs While guided since 1859 by the motto Eruditio et Religio or quotKnowledge and Religionquot Duke University continues to change to meet changing conditions